Three inmates sentenced over prison mutiny

Some inmates had to be moved to other prisons because of damage to the wing

Three inmates have been sentenced for their part in a mutiny which saw staff come under attack at a high-security prison and caused an estimated £100,000 of damage.

Prisoners who had improvised weapons and wore masks to hide their identities took control of a wing at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire in September 2019.

Dean Cody, 38, Derek Law, 40, and John Ward, 43, were all sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on Friday.

Cody, who is serving a 21-year sentence at Long Lartin, was handed an additional jail term of three years and nine months.

Law was told he would serve three years and four months following the 19 year-term he is already serving.

And Ward was handed a 16-month sentence to run concurrently with his 32-year sentence.

Floods and barricades

During the disturbance on 24 September, prison staff activated an alarm after having pool balls thrown at them.

West Mercia Police said some prisoners took control of the wing and smashed CCTV cameras, caused floods, built barricades and set fire to the wing.

Several orders over loud speakers instructed prisoners to return to their cells and warned failure to comply constituted prison mutiny.

Riot trained specialist officers were from brought in from prisons across the country, including from Birmingham, Featherstone and Cardiff.

Once inside, they regained control of the wing within 10 minutes, said police.

Det Ch Insp Mark Bellamy, who led the investigation into the mutiny, said: "We worked closely with HM Prison Service and together we hope this is a clear message that behaviour such as this will not be tolerated inside our prisons."

Extensive damage to the wing led to inmates being transferred to other parts of Long Lartin and other prisons.

Mr Bellamy said fire and ambulance services and West Mercia Police "were committed for two days during the mutiny, taking valuable services away from our local communities".

The force added three other men would be sentenced later this year and another man would face a trial.